Is Manila the world's worst airport?

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Manila Airport has been voted the world's worst by the users of a travel website for the second year running.

The poll, carried out by the Guide to Sleeping at Airports website (sleepinginairports.net), named Manila's Terminal 1 the very worst, with ratings based on "comfort, convenience, cleanliness and customer service".

Officials at the airport, the largest in The Philippines, dismissed the result of the survey, insisting that it had improved in recent years.

"These are old issues," Dante Basanta, Manila airport Terminal 1 manager, told AFP. He said that the problems were already being addressed by the government, but conceded that the airport, with an annual capacity of about 6.5 million passengers, was overstretched. Last year it handled 8.1 million travellers.

Manila's Terminal 1, the oldest of its four passenger terminals, was built 32 years ago. The government has launched a 2.5-billion peso (£36m) renovation programme for the terminal.

It is also attempting to reduce congestion by moving around three million passengers a year to a newer terminal.

The Italian airport of Bergamo was named the second least appealing, where it said there were "people loafing around without T-shirts or shoes as if they were in their homes and no one gives a hoot".

The website's ratings are explained as follows: "When selecting an airport to declare as the 'worst', travellers were asked to consider the four Cs: comfort, conveniences, cleanliness and customer service.

"Some of these factors may include: Comfort: Metallic seating, armrests, crowded terminals and limited seats make for an unpopular airport for long delays or layovers; Conveniences: Bad signage in the terminals, difficult transfers, a lack of 24-hour food, and nothing to do in transit; Cleanliness: dirty floors, bathrooms and food courts; Customer Service: unfriendly staff, airport scams, anti-airport sleeper policies, immigration officers who prefer to play Angry Birds than process travellers."

What's your worst airport experience? Do you agree with the selection? Let us know in the comment box below.

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